Independent media for the global private client world
Wealth Office is a long-form interview series with the founders, families and private capital holders reshaping the world. Filmed in London's great rooms. Published across Western and Chinese platforms.
The guest's chairEvery Wealth Office conversation is filmed on location in London. The chair is the only seat a guest is offered.
The Wealth Office audience this week
Subscribers and followers across all platforms
Checked 12 Oct 2026. Updated every Monday.
What we are building
Wealth Office is building the independent media brand for the families and principals who hold private capital, and for the advisers, institutions and creators who serve them. Long-form conversations filmed in London's great rooms, published in six languages across Western and Chinese platforms, and organised into the ideas that shape how wealth is held, passed on and put to work.
Wealth Office Insights
Essays drawn from what Wealth Office guests have said on the record. New essays follow every new episode.
News
Briefs on billionaires, family offices and private capital from Bloomberg, Forbes, the South China Morning Post and more. All news
Series architecture
Both series are filmed to the same production standard, in the same rooms, by the same team.
Editorial · Never sponsoredOne-on-one conversations exclusively with private capital-holding principals, authors and academics. The focus is their perspective, and how private capital is building the new world across business, technology, philanthropy and culture.
Exchange · Sometimes sponsoredTwo globally recognised leaders explore one subject where power, risk and long-term consequence intersect. Issue-led dialogue that stress-tests an idea or proposition.
Wealth Office X is where paid collaboration lives. It is always editorially led, never an advertisement in interview form.
The recurring questions
Ranked by how often each theme recurs across the episode library. Each theme has its own page that grows with every new episode.
In the chair
Every guest has a profile page drawing together their episodes, clips and the ideas they put on the record.
Behind the camera
The hosts, producers and strategists who make Wealth Office, in London, Hong Kong and Mumbai. Full biographies
From the comments
Real comments left under Wealth Office episodes on YouTube, quoted exactly as written. Collected weekly; a comment appears only after the team approves it.
Staging Twelve real comments selected for your approval. Commenter names are not shown.
Hosts
Based in London, Michael is a close adviser to some of the world's most ambitious private capital holders, with particular depth across Asia's major business families and family offices. His work sits at the intersection of media, reputation and the relationships shaping this era of private wealth. He is Principal Partner of Michael Macfarlane Associates, which produces Wealth Office.
About the seriesBased in Mumbai. Former South Asia Bureau Chief for the Daily Telegraph and host of The Diplomat's Beyond the Indus podcast, with over a decade advising UHNWIs and family offices across India and South Asia.
Based in Hong Kong. Moves between Western and Greater China circles in English, Mandarin and Cantonese, with long-standing relationships across Asia's family office and private client world.
Published in long, mid and short form
One filmed session becomes a long-form episode, mid-length clips and short-form cuts in English and Mandarin.
Collaboration partners
Wealth Office X places a firm's expertise inside a trusted, independent private client channel, with long-form authority, multi-platform distribution and content built for how AI now recommends people and firms.
Wealth Office Insights
Essays on private capital, family wealth and the forces reshaping the private client world, drawn from what Wealth Office guests have said on the record.
Episodes
Long-form episodes from both series, with an overview, key ideas and verified quotes for each.
Episode overview
William Louey is the fourth-generation head of the family behind Hong Kong's Kowloon Motor Bus Company. Responsibility passed to him at 19, and he chose a different path from the one expected of an heir. In this conversation with Michael Macfarlane, Louey explains why he employed a chief executive, why he sees himself as a figurehead and communicator, and how his grandmother's charitable work, which began shaping him when he was seven, set the direction of his life.
The centre of the conversation is Louey's educational foundation, established in 1995. It has funded more than 60 scholars from underprivileged backgrounds at Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Stanford and leading British schools. Louey is candid that his first motive was partly selfish, a way to build a network for his son, and says that after the first year he became addicted to helping people. Some of his scholars now fund scholarships themselves. Macfarlane describes the result as regenerative philanthropy, a form of social impact compound interest. Louey still personally interviews around 150 candidates a year in Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai.
The discussion also covers ownership, values and the next generation. Louey argues that families do not need to own a business outright, and that each board member should contribute a distinct ability. He gives his children the freedom to choose their own paths and describes his scholars as successors in their own right. He reflects on simple family values, his move away from luxury brands, and his YouTube channel on health and living well. The conversation closes on Hong Kong, the 90% of his scholars who returned to build businesses in China, and his view that happiness comes from giving rather than accumulation.
Louey founded his educational foundation in 1995 and has funded more than 60 scholars from underprivileged backgrounds at leading universities and schools. Some of those scholars have done well enough to fund scholarships themselves. Louey has met this second generation of scholars, including one who competed in the Chopin competition at 14. Macfarlane calls the model regenerative philanthropy, in which the original gift keeps producing impact without further funding.
Louey is frank that his initial motive was partly to create a network for his son, prompted by a 1991 radio interview with an impressive young Hong Kong scholar. After the first year of funding scholarships, he says, he became so absorbed in helping people that he forgot that aim. His scholars now help his son in business in China, which Louey describes as a bonus.
Because Louey funds the scholarships with his own money, he interviews every candidate himself. His criteria are that applicants are poor and have drive. He still interviews around 150 young people a year, 50 each in Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai. He stays close to scholars and their families, attending weddings and birthdays, and says these relationships keep him curious and grounded.
Louey describes himself as artistic, and was accepted by St Martin's before entering the family business as the only son. Deciding he was not good at business, he employed a chief executive and became a figurehead. He attends some 30 annual dinners for around 15,000 staff and speaks at each. Macfarlane frames this as a lesson in trust and ego, which Louey answers simply by saying he has no ego.
Kowloon Motor Bus is part of Transport International, a listed company with other shareholders. Louey argues that families do not need to own 100% of a business, citing Jack Ma's stake in Alibaba. In his view, each director brings a distinct ability to the board. His own is communicating with frontline staff, while others contribute finance, government relations or links with transport systems worldwide.
Asked whether families should steer heirs into finance and the family business, Louey says they should give freedom. His children know they can do whatever they want, and he encouraged them to do something different before they found their passion. He describes his more than 60 scholars as successors who can take over, which Macfarlane calls building legacy outside the family identity.
Louey recalls wearing designer suits as a teenager at school in Britain, and his son refusing an old Prada bag for school because classmates would laugh at brand names. He now favours modest clothing and would rather fund a scholar than buy expensive shoes. He describes his family as always low-key and argues that, beyond a certain point, inner happiness matters more than anything external.
But then after the first year of doing the scholarship, I became so addicted to helping people that I totally forgot about that. It's not personal anymore.
— William Louey, Wealth Office
You know, my relationship with my scholars, they are like my artwork. You know, when they, when they flourish, you know, it becomes a beautiful piece of art that lasts for, you know, like maybe 60, 70 years.
— William Louey, Wealth Office
It's not making the money. If you see your bank account grow, actually, it doesn't mean anything. It's just a number.
— William Louey, Wealth Office
Because I don't have an ego. You know, I know what I'm good at.
— William Louey, Wealth Office
So you don't really need to think of ownership as the numbers.
— William Louey, Wealth Office
Quotes are taken word for word from the episode transcript.
It is Michael Macfarlane's term for the effect of Louey's scholarship programme. Since 1995, Louey has funded more than 60 scholars from underprivileged backgrounds. Some have become successful enough to fund scholarships of their own, so the original gift continues to generate new opportunities without Louey needing to add to it.
Louey says he is an artistic person with little interest in business, and that he concluded he was not good at it. He employed a chief executive and took the role of figurehead and board director, where he believes his strength lies in communicating with frontline staff and representing the family.
Louey interviews every candidate himself because he funds the scholarships with his own money and raises nothing from others. His criteria are that candidates are poor and have drive. He still interviews around 150 young people each year, 50 each in Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai.
News
Weekly briefs on billionaires, family offices and private capital, drawn from Bloomberg, Forbes, the South China Morning Post and other leading titles, with context for families and their advisers.
About
Wealth Office is an independent media platform built for the private client world, launched in September 2025 and produced in London.
What Wealth Office is
Wealth Office explores the structural forces reshaping the private client world: the rise of private capital, the globalisation of family wealth, the shift of ambition and innovation toward Asia, the psychology of intergenerational stewardship, and the responsibility that comes with significant capital.
The series speaks with the principals themselves: founders, inheritors and long-term holders of capital, together with the authors and academics who study them. It does not cover market commentary or portfolio management. It asks how private wealth is used, governed and passed on, and what it is building.
Wealth Office is hosted by Michael Macfarlane and produced by a dedicated team in London and Hong Kong. Full biographies follow below.
Ultra-high-net-worth individuals, business-owning families, family offices, next-generation wealth holders, founders, and the lawyers, trustees and advisers who serve them.
Michael Macfarlane, Principal Partner of Michael Macfarlane Associates, is the principal host. Joe Wallen in Mumbai and Stephanie Chen in Hong Kong join as hosts.
The Wealth Office series is never sponsored. Wealth Office X episodes may involve a paid collaboration partner and are always editorially led.
On YouTube at @wealthofficeofficial, with clips on Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Substack, RedNote and Bilibili (as 财富办公室), and audio on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music.
Hosts and team
A London-based team with deep relationships across Asia's family offices, and fluency in English, Mandarin and Cantonese.
Wealth Office XWhere paid collaboration lives. Always editorially led.
Collaboration partners
Firms that serve the private client world collaborate with Wealth Office to own a theme: credible, independent, long-form video in front of the audience that matters, in the format AI-driven search now rewards.
The full collaboration brief, packages and audience data. Approved partners receive a one-time sign-in code by email.
Open the partner briefFor collaborations, Wealth Office X, interviews and press, write to us. Tell us about your firm, the theme you would like to own and your timing.
Email [email protected]